Gift of a Day: A traditional afternoon tea

Afternoon tea was the order of the day when Joyce Barlow Hughes celebrated her 92nd birthday amid china teapots and homemade scones last weekend. A resident of Crossroads Hospice, Hughes joined her three daughters and numerous friends at The Inn at Northwood Village for the party and her Gift of a Day.

Born in Scotland in 1931, Hughes lived much of her early life in Northern England. During WWII she was sent to boarding school in the countryside in order to be safe from the bombings. One of her favorite memories from that time was shaking Winston Churchill’s hand when he visited her village.

She speaks fondly of her favorite childhood pet, a German Shepherd named Major, and of the family’s move to Southern England, where they lived in a thatched-roof cottage while her parents operated a store. Hughes attended secretarial school and became a typist and short-hand expert.

In 1959 while teaching GIs to dance in England, she met and married Wayne Hughes of St. Clairsville, Ohio, who was stationed there with the Air Force. Their first two daughters, Theresa Kennedy and Lynne Osborne, were born in England. Their third daughter, Vickie Ickes, arrived after the military family moved to Tucson, Arizona. It was while living on the Davis Monthan Air Force Base there that Hughes earned her citizenship.

During Wayne Hughes' military career, the family moved many times, from Texas to Arizona, Germany, England and North Dakota, finally settling in St. Clairsville, where he passed away just six months after the couple’s 25th anniversary.

Hughes worked as a secretary for several doctors and businesses and retired after working for the dean at the Belmont Country Branch of Ohio. The family belonged to the Friends Church in St. Clairsville, where they had many life-long friendships. Some of those friends were able to attend Hughes’ afternoon tea.

Research shows that in England tea is held to high tradition. Contrary to popular misconception, “high,” as in high tea, does not allude to high class. It is served from 5-7 p.m., more as a supper, by the working class who couldn’t manage the midday break that afternoon tea entails and is much less formal. Afternoon tea is the more familiar with its scones, clotted cream, jellies, cucumber and egg salad sandwiches, and macarons and petit fours.

Steve Rondinella, Crossroads Hospice public relations director, said the Gift of a Day is given to each resident of the facility. “It is based on the book, ‘The Ultimate Gift’ by James Stovall,” he said. “All of the staff is involved in making these days special for our residents, and we practice the program throughout our seven sites.”

Brian Suntkin, volunteer coordinator for Gift of a Day, said his job is to help make a difficult time in resident’s lives happier. “I have the best duties of everyone,” he said, “because I get to bring smiles to everyone’s faces.”

Suntkin mentioned some of the more unusual gifts that have been planned for residents: the opportunity to jump from an airplane and free-fall for a few miles, miniature horses brought to the bedsides of those missing their own beloved pets, a final race around the track at the Magnolia Speedway, and now Hughes’ tea.

“Joyce wanted a specific tea she had grown up with called Typhoo,” Suntkin said. “We were able to find that on Amazon. Vickie made the scones, and we got the rest of the traditional food from Tiffany’s Bakery in Fairlawn.”

And so it was that 92-year-old Joyce Hughes celebrated her birthday amidst family and friends, enjoying her favorite pastime, afternoon tea, with china, Typhoo tea, homemade scones, clotted cream and strawberry jelly.